Please allow me to remind Gambians that we are now in a new era and we have to be mindful with hypocrites like Imam Oustass Ousman Jah who would go at any length to use religion as a propaganda tool and using the name of Allah as a passport to enrich themselves. Imam Jah is not the only learned Imam in this country to be dedicated a program every Friday, which he uses to sweet talk those in power neither is he an ambassador of Allah. He is good at using religion to restore his battered image.

Remember sometime ago the US Government revoked his visa and was barred from entering the US because of his ties with Iran. The hypocrisy of his speeches could be seen in how smart he used the GRTS platform to fool Jammeh who appointed him as ‘Religious Advisor’ to the former VP, Njie Saidy, a position that never existed in his administration but was specially made for him advising the then VP on religious related matters.

Because of that, he was allocated a black Mitsubishi four wheel (bought from taxpayers’ money) and allocated monthly fuel coupons for doing nothing. He was also made Amiru Hajj in January 2016. Now that Jammeh’s government is no more, he has started his usual Islamic ‘ politicization’ using religion for his own personal gain.

Why he did not use his closeness with Yahya Jammeh to convince him to step down peacefully when other respectable religious leaders made the bold efforts to ask Jammeh to leave? Regardless of what Imam Jah was talking on Friday saying that what befallen us was our own making, he failed to acknowledge that the whole problem was because of one person’s refusal to accept the results and step down. This is what created the problem and made thousands of innocent Gambians to flee the country. GRTS belongs to the people.

There are other learned honest Imams in the country who could be invited in the weekly GRTS program to tell the truth. We are in a new era, our so-called religious leaders should be practicing what they are preaching.